Q: I just heard the news regarding Mike Miller. I cannot believe how unlucky he has been. Now the only question is does he have any trade value or does Riley cut and run? It’s sad. He never had the chance to contribute. — Chet.

A: Here’s where it gets interesting: Mike played a few weeks back in Dwight Howard’s charity game in Orlando. If the Heat can prove he sustained the injury there or exacerbated it, they could be in position to void the contract. That, in turn, would open an amnesty avenue with Joel Anthony, who, of course, also currently stands as the Heat’s starting center. I doubt the Heat would take such a drastic step with Mike Miller. But I do remember Riley’s Anthony Carter moment.

Q: Hypothetically speaking (of course), since I know Riley would never do it: From a purely basketball standpoint, would you, as general manager of the Heat, consider using the amnesty rule on Bosh to sign two or three current free agents? — Josh.

A: You would never do that as a trade, so why would you do it as amnesty? Invariably, when you move the best player in the trade, you lose the trade. Besides, while amnesty covers cap and tax liability, it still means paying Chris the $100 million he is still due.

Q: With the trade rumors flying around about Chris Paul, would it be a smart move to trade Bosh for Paul and move Haslem back as starting power forward? Don’t you think it’s better than anything the Knicks could offer? — Dennis.

A: Intriguing, and perhaps good enough for the Hornets to consider. But that would leave the Heat loaded on the perimeter, without anything resembling a post scoring threat.

Q: Hi, Ira. With the recent news that Tyson Chandler says he is leaving Dallas, I feel the Heat should try and get him. He would be a great fit as he doesn’t demand the ball, is great defensively and has a decent offensive game. — Conor.

A: He is threatening to leave the Mavericks because they won’t offer the type of money the Heat have no ability to offer. He’s re-signing there. This is all part of the free-agency dance.

Q: Why does LeBron have to be so chummy with every “next” superstar? I’m not saying go old school and not pick guys up when they fall down on the court, but dude has been best friends with Durant all summer. The summer before it was with Melo. So who is it next year, Rose? — Julio.

A: Because there is basketball and there is marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself.

Comments (303 Comments)

Outside of the top free agents, there are a number of highly coveted role players that can help a team.

Grant Hill has drawn interest from a number of contenders. The Phoenix Suns want to re-sign Hill, but teams like the New York Knicks, Los Angeles and Miami Heat would all love to have him as well, according to sources close to the situation. They see him as a reliable veteran and excellent leader who can help them compete for a championship.

Maurice Evans, who displayed his leadership throughout the NBA’s labor negotiations, has received interest from a number of teams as well. The Washington Wizards acquired Evans prior to last year’s trade deadline and would love to re-sign him. He was a contributor and mentor during his brief stint in Washington and they would love to have him back. However, several contenders such as the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have reached out to Evans’ camp as well. Don’t be surprised if teams look to sign Evans with the new mini mid-level exception.

Sebastian Telfair has received interest from the New York Knicks, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers, according to sources. Telfair is excited for free agency because he’ll be able to choose his next destination, which hasn’t been the case early in his career. Since entering the league, Telfair has been traded multiple times, usually midseason. In fact, he hasn’t played with the same team for more than two seasons at a time and he’s had nine different head coaches. If Telfair lands in the right situation, with some structure, he could still be a significant contributor.

Von Wafer is still playing with the Italian team Vanoli Cremona and he’ll remain overseas until he has an offer from an NBA team. He’s playing extremely well in Italy, leading the league in scoring with 19.9 points per game. He’s enjoying his stint overseas so much that he may remain there if he doesn’t receive a guaranteed contract from an NBA team. The Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Hornets have expressed interest in him and the Boston Celtics would like to re-sign him. Wafer has bulked up this offseason, adding eight pounds of muscle while working hard on his game. Whether or not he gets a guaranteed offer remains to be seen.

Nate Robinson will likely be bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sources confirm that the Thunder has been trying to negotiate a buyout with Robinson for quite some time and they’ll likely waive him at some point in the next few weeks. Robinson will become an unrestricted free agent.

marty, U are a Denver guy, Nene, whats your thoughts on him. I think he would excel more w/lebron and wade then he did w/melo and his ball hogging. agreed? I am stuck on him 4 this team. just the way he finished off 1 play last yr that was on sports center for a week , ran the floor, dribbled around 2, and dunked (FOR A CENTER). I just think his athelticism is perfect for this team.

Ur thoughts on what the Den media states about him? does he feel disrespected their? melo left a good team, that had a chance to win etc. and now r in rebuild mode.

On a day of rumors about possible future trades, one semi-important news item got lost: Miami shooting guard Mike Miller underwent hernia surgery recently and will be out at least a month, and possibly two. The Heat, in need of outside shooting and uniquely structured to use Miller’s positional versatility, now have an even thornier decision to make on whether to use the new amnesty rule on him.

As Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com noted earlier this week, the amnesty decision on Miller was going to be tough before news of Miller’s surgery. The difficulty surrounds a clause in the new proposed collective bargaining agreement prohibiting any team that uses the full mid-level exception from exceeding the luxury-tax line by more than $4 million. As Windhorst notes, the league has basically created a hard cap for teams that want to use the full mid-level, which allows clubs over the salary cap to offer a free agent a starting salary of $5 million over four-year contract.

Here’s how this works in Miami’s case:

• The Heat’s payroll, once they sign rookie Norris Cole, will be somewhere between $66 million and $67 million, placing them well over the salary cap.

• The luxury-tax line for the 2011-12 season will be right around $70.3 million, where it fell last season.

• The Heat, with nearly $50 million (which will rise fast in future years) committed to three star players, will lean heavily on the mid-level exception to attract quality veterans around their star core.

• At $67 million, they are permitted to use the full mid-level, since it would take their payroll to $72 million — just short of that $74.3 million hard cap sitting $4 million above the tax line.

The problem, of course, is that by using the full mid-level on one quality player, the Heat would leave themselves with just $2 million or so to fill at least four roster spots. You could accomplish that (barely) by signing four rookies to minimum-salary deals, but doing so would cost you Mario Chalmers — sort of an important thing, considering the Heat have zero true NBA point guards on their roster right now. You could argue this team, with two of the league’s great pick-and-roll ball-handlers, doesn’t need a point guard, but those stars have to rest occasionally, and even if you stagger their rest so that one is on the court at all times, they need occasional breaks from running things.

The Heat have two solutions — one easy, one hard:

1. Forget about using the full mid-level exception and just use the “mini” mid-level available to teams that pay the luxury tax. That deal is worth $3 million per year for a maximum of three seasons. This would allow the Heat to keep Miller and spend as much as they’d like.

2. Use the amnesty clause on Miller, slicing away his $5.4 million salary and giving Miami just enough flexibility to use the full $5 million mid-level, sign Chalmers and fill out the roster without crashing through that hard wall built $4 million past the tax line.

What Miami does here will be both a test of the new spending restrictions in the new CBA and of how it values Miller. The NBA in the name of competitive balance pushed hard to prevent tax-paying teams — the big spenders — from having any access at all to the mid-level exception, but eventually compromised with this system. The new rules bank on at least some mid-level veterans passing on the three-year, $9 million mid-level tax teams can offer in favor of the four-year, $20 million deal non-tax teams can provide.

If the Heat fear the gap between the offers will cost them a player they really want more than Miller, then the system will have worked (as the NBA envisions it) and the Heat will have to either cut Miller or sign a lesser player. If they Heat feel they can get the player they really want with the mini mid-level, then they can keep Miller and we will have again witnessed the power of attractive markets. (The dream is to convince an established in-his-prime star, such as Nene, to take the full mid-level, something that would be basically unprecedented and very bad for the rest of the league.)

The clamor is for the Heat to sign a fourth big man, ideally a true center, to go along with Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony in the rotation; Zydrunas Ilgauskas retired and Dexter Pittman is a question mark. Thus the non-stop reports about Samuel Dalembert’s potential fit in Miami. The Heat do need a fourth usable big, even if the Bosh/Anthony/Haslem trio is going to play the bulk of the minutes in a league that isn’t exactly full of legit centers anymore. Four bigs gives you flexibility and rest options, and two teams with old-school NBA size — the Mavs and Bulls — punished Miami on the offensive glass during the playoffs.

But the Heat also need perimeter shooting. Badly. Bosh is fantastic for his position, but his range stops at 20 feet. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are average three-point shooters (Wade is actually below average), and though LeBron improved his accuracy on long twos dramatically last season, the Mavericks reminded us again that a great defensive team with the right personnel can go under all those screens, squeeze the paint and dare Miami’s ball-handlers to shoot. Having guys who can stretch a defense and take advantage of double teams is crucial, and Miller, with two healthy thumbs, is about as good a three-pointer shooter as exists. Chalmers and Eddie House might be able to fill that role; House is a dead-eye shooter, but he’s a liability on defense and cannot handle point guard duties against tough defenders. Chalmers is a career 36 percent shooter from deep, and he’ll get better if he keeps practicing those corner threes.

But Miller’s height, rebounding (among the very best at his position) and ability to guard multiple positions offers the Heat a kind of versatility those point guards cannot. The James/Bosh/Wade/Haslem/Miller lineup, without a point guard or a center, was supposed to be where this Miami team flummoxed everyone with crazy matchups and out-of-the-box plays. Miller’s presence also helped coach Erik Spoelstra build lineups in which James played power forward — small-ball groups that sliced up the Sixers and Celtics in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

There are some free-agent wings in Miami’s range that could approximate what Miller might contribute in peak form. Grant Hill comes to mind, but he made just 45 threes last season. Caron Butler and Jason Richardson might work, but both could command more than the full mid-level, and each comes with questions about shooting (was Butler’s three-point accuracy last season a blip?) and positional versatility. Shane Battier might be perfect, but he’ll have suitors, and doesn’t quite have Miller’s ability to pump fake and create off the dribble.

Miami needs shooting and size, and limited methods through which they can get both. Miller’s hernia throws an extra complication into things. Amnesty is a one-time-only deal. Is now the time to use it?

thinking about the scenario if they were to keep miller, if dalembert took only $4 million of the $5 million MLE and chalmers signed for the $1 mil QO, you would essentially have to sign 3 novices to minimum deals. just curious to see how riley approaches this. he may be watching alot of free agents go to his biggest rivals and contenders

wuld nene take the MLE like windhorst suggests? does he want to win that bad? cant we sign him for 2 yrs to get his bird rights? 2 yr MLE, then reup him and go over cap to sign your own players? anyone know how that breaks down? because then if nene can sign for 2 yrs and 10m,. he is only out a little doe, then riley can reup him when we get his bird rights. .

possible? of course thats if he wants to come here—but he is unrestricted, and has to realize he wuld b goin to da finals almost every yr………….

Barry Jackson recently reported that one of the Miami Heat’s first post-NBA lockout calls will be to the Denver Nuggets’ center Nene Hilario(notes). If the Heat could somehow sign Nene, engrave the 2012 Larry O’Brien trophy right now.

Miami Heat Home Game at American Airlines Arena in Miami Florida.

Holly Burgess
In the current NBA landscape, the Heat would win the NBA Championship with Nene, easily.

Now, I realize that Nene told The Denver Post: “If people think it’s about money, they’re wrong. I’ve saved my money. I could retire today.” And that Dwyane Wade(notes), LeBron James(notes), Chris Bosh(notes) and Udonis Haslem(notes) all signed for millions less to join the Miami Heat.

Dalembert? Let’s not get carried away. He’s a rich man’s Joel Anthony. His averages 8.2 rebounds, 8.1 points, 1.5 blocks for a bad Sacramento team show who he is. At 6-11, he presents a taller presence than what the Heat has.
or

There are a hundred variables for the Heat to add free agents. And you always have to wonder if Pat Riley has something big – Nene? – up his executive sleeve.

Guys, I have gone thru alot of posts over the past few weeks, and have U guys not watched Denver games? dont go by #s. Playing with ball hogg melo effects players when u take 30 shots a game. But Nene is head and shoulders above Dalembert. I know I went a bit Nene crazy on the posting, but if you guys havent seen alot of the Denver games, that U cant really rate him. They play late on TV, most of their national games were the later game after the heat, and he wasnt on TV much on normal hours. But this dude is the real deal and by far and away hands down the best center on the market, with chandler a distant 2nd ,and dalembert down the line a bit. he is a double digit scorer, so with bosh, gives us 5 positions that can score with ease, runs the floor and finishes like a Small forward, and blocks shots. If its about winning to him,. he comes to miami. He would become like PELE was in NY if he played in miami,. but playin in Denver, his market is small. So maybe the dude take 4m -6m less per yr, but with no state tax, and the money he would make being from BRazil, bein on TV every game, and Endorsements as PELE did in soccer(which is why Nene launched his last name in respect for Pele), the guy would break barriers……..with brazillians living in miami, and miami bein the gateway to the americas, this guy becomes a south american superstar overnight playin w/lebron and dwade. and the titles would be piling up.
I can guarantee U thats what Riley is selling him. Mark it down, The dude is a baller. Has everything we want,. low post scoring ,post ups, alley oops, run the floor and finish, plays D, tall, blocks shots, and is HUGE……………………..

dom
I dont think anyone here considers Dalembert Nene’s equal. It is about fit and price. Dont be fooled by Hyde’s uninformed column. Dalembert is a CAREER near 10pts/10rebs guy. He is better rebounder then Nene and better shot blocker (Those are facts)

Nene much better offensive player and help defender then Dalembert. It is his offensive that makes nene near max player.

As of now, Heat likely only able to afford Dalembert (which is HUGE improvement over last years centers – not mariginal as Hyde implies). You and I DOM are more intelletually in tune to BB then Hyde. REBOUNDING IS AS CRITICAL TO TEAMS WINNING AS MUCH AS SCORING.

espn bucher said Nene is top Fa on market and David Aldridge on NBA TV game time just said Nene is the #1 guy period. I am tellin U guys. His #s are altered playin in den w/.melo and JR smith who just jacked up shots and didnt play a low post game. they had a permiter scoring team.

The hope is (read that old yahoo article from sept) Nene said”"its not about money, wade/bron etc took less ,and he is aware, and he can retire today that he has saved money.

Can Riley close the deal!! We were 1 of 3 teams he said he would play for. Us, Houston and 1 more(forget the 3rd) and this was this past season he said it. Given Riley , Nene’s knowledge of how good this team is, he knows he can put us over the top 4 the next 5 yrs easily..

2 ways we can get him ,and yes I know we need him to want to win more than the $, which he said he would.
1. He takes the MLE for the min years until we get his bird rights. which I am not sure. say 2-3 yrs, and then riles can pay him
2. He is unrestricted. he tells Den. like bosh and bron, I AM GOIN TO MIAMI. Lose me for nothing or take apackage. and this way he can get 10-12 m. Say Miller/joel and we do have a #1 this yr. so he gets more doe, and they get some D in Joel 2 replace NENE, and millers 3pt shot, when healthy of course. Den can always amnesty miller since they have no bad contracts anymore-

So this can happen———–Dalembert is not on NBA TV’s top FA’s or ESPN’s by the way guys. Just to let you know

IRA WINDERMAN is embarking on his 24th season covering the Miami Heat for the Sun-Sentinel, witnessing more than 1,900 of the team's games (thus the bags under the eyes and hair loss not truly depicted by the accompanying photo). With the help of antacids (during the lean years) and a sense of humor (during the Riley dictatorship), he has been able to remain a courtside fixture at AmericanAirlines Arena, a veteran 12 years older than coach Erik Spoelstra. Only former trainer Ron Culp had attended more Heat games, but, then again, Winderman has yet to tape his first ankle.